This invention relates to methods for producing a laminate useful in the manufacture of wearing apparel, for example, and to laminates so produced wherein an abrasion resistant or cut resistant gripping surface is required. The laminate includes a porous surface produced initially by foaming which cells then break or collapse, and which surface is useful as a gripping surface for the work environment, and the method of the invention is such that the surface may be controlled to have a lesser or greater degree of abrasion resistance, as required for the subsequent use of the article involved.
The invention includes a substrate which may be a fabric web comprised of a non-woven fibrous web, such as needled felt, a knitted fabric web such as knitted jersey, or a woven fabric, for example. The substrate may be comprised of natural or synthetic fibers or blends thereof including, for example, polyester, or a polyester-cotton blend. The foamed surface is applied to the substrate.
A particular advantage of the invention here is the creation of a garment such as a glove which is lightweight and breathable with a comparatively thin coating on an open weave liner substrate without strike-through or undue absorption of the coating material into the open weave during the coating operation.
The resulting foam surface is porous, as will be understood, and has an enhanced gripping property while at the same time having the flexible, easily manipulatable and comfortable properties of a knitted wool glove. The foam may be comprised of polyurethane, for example, polyvinyl chloride, acrylonitrile, neoprene, or other synthetic or natural rubbers. In addition, in certain applications, it may be appropriate to include a moisture barrier between the substrate and the foam surface. The barrier may be applied as a coating on the substrate, for example. Representative moisture barrier coatings include polyvinyl chloride, acrylonitrile, natural or synthetic rubbers. The moisture barrier layer will be selected to be compatible with the subsequently applied foam layer, as will be understood.
In the past, it has been conventional, in order to apply gripping surfaces to work gloves and such items of wearing apparel or skid resistant floor coverings, to provide a textured surface in one form or another. However, certain disadvantages are involved in the use of such textured surfaces in work gloves and the like in that the coatings required are often comparatively heavy precluding achieving breathability in the resulting product. As will be understood, it is important in certain applications that the garment such as work gloves, boots or work aprons have a breathable property because of the environment in which they are to be used. Moreover, in the production of work gloves, for example, much more routine and substantially less expensive production lines may be used if coatings are applied by dipping the liners loaded on forms for applying the outer coating. However, in the past, such dipping applications were precluded with open weave type fabrics simply because of undue absorption and strike-through of the applied dipped coating into and through the liners to the internal surfaces, thereof. This is undesirable because it interferes with the desired properties of the internal surface of the resulting glove which desired properties include warmth, softness, and moisture absorbancy.